Cushioned display container



Oct. 19, 1948. P. A. CARSON 2,451,306

CUSHIONED DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed Nov. 13, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 1 F2 I i-2 INVENTOR:

PERCY ACARSON,

BY WW HIS ATTORNEY.

Oct. 19 1948.. p, A CARSON 2,451,806

CUSHIONED DISPLAY CONTAINER Filed Nov. 13, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR: PERCY A. CARSON,

v HIS ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 19, 1948 cushions!) DISPLAY con'runea Percy A. Carson, East Cleveland, Ohio, amignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Appllcation November 13, 1945, Serial No. 528,251

6-Clalml'. (Cl. 206 45.14)

My invention relates to packing containers and is of particular interest in connection with containers for fragile articles. such as incandescent lamps, comprising glass bulbs.

Objects of my invention are to provide a packing container having a. window for displaying the lamps, which has a flexible cradle tray for supporting the lamps in spaced relation while leaving most of each lamp exposed to view through the window and which is rugged enough to stand the shocks of transportation and to minimize such shocks to the lamps. Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of species thereof and from the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a package embodying my invention with part of the front broken away to show the interior and Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The container shown in the drawing comprises a box I rectangular in cross-section and consisting of comparatively stiff paper material. preferably a light cardboard. The box I is shown in position for. resting on a support, such as a dis- The ends 2 and 3 f the box I play counter. are closed by conventional flaps (not shown) which may be constructed in the usual manner in the folding cardboard box art. The interior of the box I is divided into upper and lower compartments by a partition 4 which is integral with the back wall 5 (Fig. 2) and is secured to the inner surface of the front wall 6 by an adhesive or the like. The box I may be made in the usual manner so as to fold up for shipment and storage and for opening into the form shown in the drawing for accommodating lamps I. The lamps l are placed in each compartment with their longitudinal axes transverse to the partition 4 as shown in the lowerpart of the figures. No lamps are shown in the upper compartment in order to illustrate the means described below for holding the lamps I. The front 6 of the box I has two elongated openings or windows 8 of equal size, one for each compartment, for displaying the lamps I without opening the box I.

The lamps I are held in spaced relation in the compartments by cradle-trays formed by the flaps III which are integral with the front 6 of the box I and which may be folded back into the compartments to form the trays. The flaps Ill are flexible and tend to return to their original position flush with the windows 8 in the front 8 of the box I. They thus clamp the lamps between them as explained below and form cradle trays which yieldingly resist the physical shocks of transportation to minimize the force of such shocks on the lamps. The flaps Ill engage the base end and the opposite end of the lamps I 'cutting the front of the box I.

and leave the center of the lamps I visible for display through the windows 8.

The flaps III and the windows are formed by In making the flaps the front of the box is perforated so as to make six circular apertures II of sufilcient diameter to accommodate and fit snugly a standard screw base of an incandescent lamp. such as a sixty watt incandescent lamp. The apertures II are arranged in two rows of three apertures each on either side of the plane or the partition 4 with the apertures II in one row aligned with the apertures II in the other row. The center aperture ineach row is offset slightly toward the other row from a line Joining the outer apertures in the row and the front of the box is slit along a path following a curved line between the apertures in each row, as shown at the upper half of Fig. 1, and along parallel lines normal to the plane of the partition. Two pairs of flaps Ill are thus made with one flap of each pair having -a single aperture II and the other flap two, apertures. When the flaps III are bent back into the compartments the two windows 8 are left in the front of the box for viewing the lamps 'I in each compartment as shown in the lower half of the figure. .An arcuate slit is made at the bottom of the flaps I0 adjacent the partition 4 so that a plaque-like portion I2 is provided for advertising matter on the strip between windows 8.

The lamps I may be placed in the box I by placing the fingers of one hand in back of a. flap Ill and screwing or thrustinga lamp base into an aperture II with the other hand. This may be done with the hand holding the lamp 1 outside the box I and the flaps I0 bent back slightly. After the lamps I have been inserted into the apertures II in one pair of flaps III the lamps I may be thrust through the window, springing the sides of the window slightly if necessary, to bend the flaps I0 back further into the compartment. The lamps I are thrust far enoughint'o thecompartment so that the ends of the lampbu'lbs pass the curved edges of the flaps "I0. Both flexible flaps I0 tend to move back to theiroriginal position. A turning moment thus is ex erted on each lamp 1 by the flaps I0 engaging the lamp bases to force the lamp bulbs against the curved edges of the opposite flaps III which engage the bulbs between their rounded ends and the part of largest diameter and oppose the force tending to rotate the lamps I. Thus. the flaps I0 engage and clamp the lamps between them and the cradle tray formed by the flexible flaps I0 yieldingly supports and spaces the lamps in the compartments. The curvature of the flap I edges may be selected to fit lamp bulbs of various u diameters.

Lamps of the same wattage or of diil'erent wattage may be packed in the box. I prefer to place two sixty-watt lamps, two forty-watt lamps and two onehundred watt lamps in a single box. The apertures III for the bases of the forty and sixty watt lamps may be of the same diameter but those for the one hundred watt lamps, the bulbs of which are longer than the others, may be slightly larger so that the flap in may slip over the lamp base and engage the neck of the bulb as shown in the drawing. Thus, in the lower compartment the apertures in the lower flap l may be slightly larger than the single aperture in the upper flap and the one hundred watt lamps may be inserted in said larger apertures and a sixty watt bulb in said center aperture. The portions of the edge of the upper flap for engaging the larger bulbs of the higher wattage lamps may have a smaller degree of curvature than the center portion of the edge of the lower flap engaging the smaller bulb lamp. The partition 4 is closer to one side of the box than the other to provide a larger width compartment for the longer lamps.

In the upper compartment the apertures II in the flaps may be the same in diameter and two forty watt lamps may be placed in the outer positions with a sixty watt lamp in the middle position. In such an assortment, the ends of the one hundred watt lamps may lightly touch-the partition or the lower side of the box. The smaller lamps may be supported solely by the flaps ID as shown in Fig. 2 but all the lamps are yieldingly held in the box by the cradle trays with sufllcient firmness to successfully minimize forces encountered in transportation tending to move them together or relative to the box i.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A packing container of relatively stiff flexible material having a wall portion provided-with spaced apertures for receiving ends of articles for packaging in the container, the wall portion having also a slit extending between and around the apertures to form a pair of flaps which are opposed to each otherand tend to return to a position flush with the wall when bent back into theinterior of the container, each of said flaps having at least one of said apertures therein and having a recessed edge portion so spaced from the aperture as to engage the free end of the article in an aperture in the opposite bent back flap whereby the bent flaps reieasabiy clamp articles between them for display through the opening left in the container wall thereby.

2. A packing container of relatively stifi flexible material having a wall portion provided with a row of spaced apertures for accommodating the base end of incandescent lamps, the wall portion having also a slit extending between and around the apertures to form a pair of flaps which are opposed to each other and tend to return to a position flush with the wall when bent back into the interior of the container, each of said flaps having at least one of said apertures therein and having a concave edge portion so spaced from the aperture as to engage the bulb of a lamp the base end of which is inserted in an aperture in the opposite bent back flap whereby the bent flaps reieasabiy clamp the lamps between them for display through the opening left in the container wall thereby.

also a slit extending between and around the apertures to form a pair oi flaps which are opposed to each other and tend to return to a position flush with the wall when bent back into the interior of the container, each of said flaps having'at least one of said apertures therein and having a concave edge portion so spaced from the aperture as to engage the bulb of a lamp the base end of which is inserted in an aperture in the opposite bent back flap whereby the bent flaps releasably clamp the lamps between them for display through the opening left in the container wall thereby.

4. A packing container of relatively stifi flexible material, rectangular in cross-section and having a partition dividing its interior into compartments each of which has a wall portion provided with spaced apertures for receiving ends of articles for packaging in the container, both of said wall portions having also a slit extending between and around the apertures therein to form a pair'of flaps which are opposed to each other and tend to return to a position flush with the wall when bent back into the interior of the compartments, each of said flaps having at least one of said apertures therein and having a concave edge portion so spaced from the aperture as to engage the free end of the article in an aperture in the opposite bent back flap whereby the bentflaps reieasabiy clamp articles between them for display through the openings left in the container wall thereby.

5. A packing and display container for incandescent lamps having a bulb and a base, said container having an opening in a wall thereof and resilient flaps joined to and projecting inwardly from opposite edges of said opening and tending to return to a position flushwith the wall, each flap having an aperture for accommodating the base end of a lamp and having also a concave edge portion so spaced from the aperture as to engage the bulb of the lamp having its base in an aperture in the opposite flap whereby the resilient flaps clamp the lamps between them for a display through the opening.

6. A packing container having a display window and a cradle-tray for holding articles within the container and before the window, the cradle-tray being formed of two opposed flexible flaps joined to sides of the window and which, tend to move to a position flush with the window, each of the flaps being provided with an aperture offset from the aperture in the opposite flap for receiving an end of an article for packaging and having also a concave edge portion so spaced-from the aperture therein as to engage the free end of an article the opposite end of which is inserted in an aperture in the opposite flap whereby the articles are detachably supported by the cradletray within the container and in front of the. window.

PERCY A. CARSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Lee Jan. 11, 1944 Disclaimer 2,451,806.--Percy A. Carson, East Cleveland, Ohio. CUSHTONED DISPLAY CON- TAINER. Patent dated Oct. 19, 1948. Disclaimer filed June 24, 1949, by the assignee, General Electric Company.

Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 1 to 6, inclusive, of said patent:

[Ofiicial Gazette August 9, 1949] 

